Bear Creek zoning rejected by voters

April 30, 2003|BY RYAN BENTLEY NEWS-REVIEW STAFF WRITER

By a margin of about 3-1, voters in a referendum election Tuesday in Bear Creek Township rejected a zoning ordinance which township officials had prepared to guide land uses in the community on a long-term basis.

A vote tally Tuesday evening showed 227 voters supporting the ordinance and 739 against it. The 966 ballots cast represented 25 percent of the township's approximately 3,800 registered voters - a turnout Bear Creek clerk Judy Mays said was fairly high for a special election.

The township board had approved the ordinance in question last December, but a group of Bear Creek residents collected the petition signatures needed under Michigan law to place it on the ballot for final consideration by voters a short time later.

With Tuesday's rejection of the zoning provisions, Bear Creek supervisor Dennis Keiser said he anticipates Emmet County officials will retain authority over zoning matters in the township for the forseeable future.

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"I'm glad it's over with," Keiser said shortly after learning the referendum outcome Tuesday. "We know as a township which way to move.

"It sounds to me like the people spoke and they want county zoning. We just look forward to working with the county."

Some township residents had argued that a variety of zoning regulations in the new ordinance were too restrictive, ranging from lighting standards to the minimum lot sizes needed to construct a home in some parts of the township.

Shortly before the referendum, Mays said she was willing to revisit some of the ordinance provisions which had been criticized. But she added that on the whole, the ordinance which the township planning commission worked more than a year to prepare seemed to be an appropriate way to manage some of the unique land-use situations faced by the growing community.

One of the people who assisted with the petition drive and related activities, township property owner Klaus Rosenthal, said he believed the referendum outcome affirmed the petitioners' concerns that the permanent zoning ordinance was excessively restrictive.

"Wow, that's great," he said when told of the election tally Tuesday.

"I don't even think the township officials knew how restrictive it was," he said, noting that several Bear Creek officials seemed surprised by ordinance provisions when critics of the document questioned them.

Rosenthal said numerous volunteers who took steps like making copies of the permanent zoning ordinance and distributing them to interested residents deserve some of the credit for the ordinance opponents' success Tuesday. He added that he and some others who opposed the ordinance weren't against zoning in general, but instead concerned about the excessive restrictions in Bear Creek's document.

Bill Seldon, a township resident who also was involved with efforts to oppose the ordinance, said he saw Tuesday's vote as "democracy in action, people expressing their feelings."

"In an election like this, there are no Democrats, no Republicans, no independent party," he said. "It's a choice of the people, and when you infringe on people's right to use their property as they see fit, they will stand up."

While Seldon said the county zoning ordinance which will remain in effect in Bear Creek in his opinion "could use a haircut as well," its restrictions don't seem as excessive as those in the township's zoning document.

Bear Creek's efforts to pursue a zoning ordinance of its own began in the late 1990s, with township officials seeking greater local control over land use matters and improved enforcement of zoning provisions. Initially, the township used an interim ordinance largely modeled on the county's zoning provisions. As the permanent township ordinance was barred from taking effect prior to the referendum election once petitions were successfully filed seeking the public vote, county officials have been handling Bear Creek's zoning needs since the interim document's January expiration.

Keiser said the township likely will retain its planning commission to serve as an advisory body for county officials in planning and zoning decisions. When it needs the services of a professional planner, Bear Creek will continue to obtain them from a consulting firm as it recently began doing, he added.

Emmet County planner Max Putters said taking on zoning cases for the county's most populated township has doubled his staff's workload in recent months. In the near future, he said county officials likely will discuss the possibility of having one of the three planning office staff members commit at least part of their workday to Bear Creek's zoning needs, and perhaps adding an additional employee to work on the township's needs.

"Bear Creek is a high-impact community for development," he said. "Zoning issues are often intense."

Putters said county planning staff plans to work closely with Bear Creek officials on future planning initiatives.